DJ 1800 3.1 review

A useful transitional tool for DJs moving to the Mac

Jump to Section:

Our Verdict

If the app included some basic effects, a few filters and a recording feature, it would be a perfect piece of software for the majority of laptop DJs

For

Stable

Access libraries from inside the app

No learning curve

Against

No recording feature

Track loading could be faster

No EFX

DJ 1800 is a virtual version of Denon's entry-level DN-1800F CD player, which can be commonly found in venues across clubland. Denon's CD player is well known to DJs and is easy to work with.

Correspondingly, for DJs making the transition from CDs to laptop, this software offers a useful platform for plying their craft.

The interface gives you four 'CD trays', all with track browsing, cue and pitch control, and a virtual mixer. There are no effects buttons or filters. This is a basic tool for accessing your music libraries and simply mixing them.

Speedy track selection

DJ 1800 has been around for a few years, but this latest version addresses one of the few weaknesses in the app.

In previous versions you had to drag tracks from a Finder window and drop them into the virtual CD trays, which is fiddly to do on-the-fly in a club environment. In this latest version your music libraries load up inside DJ 1800.

So whether you're using your Mac's library, or one from an iPod or iPhone, all the tunes appear inside DJ 1800's main interface. This greatly speeds up track selection.

Easy mixing

Using the software to mix a set is easy. We used DJ 1800's virtual mixer and set it up to output through an amp to our speakers – though if you prefer, a range of controller plug-ins are available for using DJ 1800 with USB hardware mixers. A list of compatible hardware can be found on the DJ 1800 website.

The software is stable and has good output options, though there is the lack of a recording feature. To record your set you'll need a third-party app such as SoundFlower or Audio Hijack Pro. With this third-party help the whole package works very well.